Kepubltc 

of  tbe 

future 


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■{Republic  of  the  Jfuturc 


ZIbc 
IRcpublic  of  tbc  Jfutuvc 


OR 


SOCIALISM   A   REALITY 


RY 

ANNA    BOWMAN    DODD. 

AUTIU»R     f»F     "OLD    CATHEDRAL     DAYS,"     ETC, 


CASSELL   &  COMPANY.    Limited, 
739  A:  741   Broadway,  New  York. 


ConrwcHT, 
By  O.   M.   DUNHAM. 


Pr*M  W.  L    M«r«Kon  tt  Co. 
P•^w•v.  N.  J. 


LETTERS  FROM  A 

SWEinSH  NOBLEMAN  LrV'ING  IN  THl    2i«^T  CENTURY 

TO  A  FRIEND  IN  CHRISTIANIA. 


The  Republic  of  ihc  Future. 


•      ^^/f 


>^ 


The  Republic  of  the  I'^utuir. 


1. 

New  York  Socialistic  City, 

December  ist,  2050  A.  D. 
Dear  Hannevig: 

At  last,  as  you  sec,  my  journeys  is  safely 
accomplished,  and  I  am  fairly  landed  in  the 
midst  of  this  strange  socialistic  society.  To 
say^  that  I  was  landed,  is  to  make  use  of  so 
obsolete  an  expression  that  it  must  entirely  fail 
to  conv---  •      you  a  true  idea  of  the  processes 


Thr  R(f>uhlii  i*/  thf  Fututf. 


of  the  journey.  Had  I  •%vritten — I  was  safely 
thol  into  the  country — this  would  much  more 
(graphically  describe  to  you  the  method  of  my 
arrival. 

You  may  remember,  perhaps,  that  before 
starting  I  found  myself  in  ver)'  grave  doubt  as 
to  which  route  to  take — whether  to  come  by 
balloon  or  by  tunnel.  As  the  latter  route  would 
enable  me  to  enjoy  an  entirely  novel  spectacle, 
that  of  viewing  sub-marine  scenery,  I  chose, 
and  wisely  I  now  know,  to  come  by  the  rncu- 
matic  Tube  Electric  Company.  The  comforts 
and  luxuries  of  this  sub-marine  routeare  beyond 
belief.  The  perfection  of  the  contrivances  for 
supplying  hot  and  cold  air,  for  instance,  during 
the  journey,  are  such  thai  the  passengers  arc 
enabled  to  have  almost  any  temperature  at  com- 
mand. The  cars  are  indeed  marked  70°  Fahr., 
80"  and  loc^*^.     ^"^'v   buys  one's  seat  according 


The  Republic  o/  the  Future. 


to  his  taste  for  climate.  Many  of  the  travellers, 
I  noticed,  booked  themselves  for  the  bath  de- 
partment, remaining  the  entire  journey  in  the 
Turkish,  Russian,  vapor  or  plunge  depart- 
ments— as  the  various  baths  attached  to  this 
line  surpass  a  Roman  voluptuary's  dream  of 
such  luxuries.  I,  however,  never  having  been 
through  the  great  tunnel  before,  was  naturally 
more  interested  in  what  was  passing  so  swiftly 
before  my  eyes.  The  speed  at  which  we  were 
shot  was  terriffic — five  miles  to  the  minute — 
making  the  journey  of  three  thousand  miles 
just  ten  hours  long.  In  spite  of  the  swiftness 
of  our  transit,  we  were  enabled  by  the  aid  of 
the  instantaneous  photographic  process,  as  ap- 
plied to  opera-glasses  and  telescopes,  to  feel 
that  we  lost  nothing  by  the  rapidity  of  our 
meteor-like  passage.  I  was  totally  unprepared 
for  the  beauties  and  the  novelties  which  met 


lo  Tki  Rel^ubiu  0/  Ike  Future. 


my  eye  at  every  turn.  The  sight-scers*  car  is 
admirably  arranged.  Fancy  being  able  lo  take  in 
all  the  wonders  of  ocean-land  through  large  glass 
|K)rt-holes  in  the  concave  sides  of  circular  cars. 
The  tube  itself,  which  is  of  iron,  enormously 
thick,  has  glass  sides,  also  of  huge  thickness, 
running  parallel  with  the  windows  of  the  car 
so  that  the  view  is  unobstructed.  The  sensa- 
tions awakened,  therefore,  both  by  the  novelty 
of  the  situation  and  by  the  wonders  we  passed 
in  review,  combined  to  make  the  journey  thrill- 
ingly  exciting.  We  were  swept,  for  instance, 
past  armies  of  fishes,  beautiful  to  behold  in 
such  masses,  shimmering  in  their  opalescent 
armor  as  they  rose  above,  or  sank  out  of  sight 
ii»to  the  depths  below.  The  sudden  depressions 
and  abrupt  elevations  of  the  sea-level  made  the 
scenery  full  of  diversity.  There  was  a  great 
abundanc-  '»f  color,  with   tli«-   vivid  criiDsoii  of 


71ic  Krpuhlic  of  the  Future.  \  \ 


the  coralline  plants  and  the  delicate  pinks  and 
yellows  of  the  many  varieties  of  the  sub-marine 
flora.  It  seemed  at  times  as  if  we  were  caught 
in  a  liquid  cloud  of  amber,  or  were  to  be  en- 
meshed  in  a  grove  of  giant  sea-weeds. 

Hcyond  all  else,  however,  in  point  of  interest, 
was  the  spectacle  of  the  wholesale  cannibalism 
going  on  among  the  finny  tribes,  a  cannibalism 
which  still  exists,  in  spite  of  the  persistent  and 
unwearying  exertions  of  the  numerous  Societies 
for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  among  Cetacea 
and  Crustacea.  We  passed  any  number  of  small 
boats  darting  in  and  out  among  the  porpoises, 
dolphins  and  smaller  fish,  delivering  supplies 
(of  proper  Christian  food)  and  punishing  offend- 
ers. A  sub-marine  missionary,  who  chanced 
to  sit  next  tome,  told  me  that  of  all  vertebrate 
or  invertebrate  animals,  the  fish  is  the  least 
amenable     to     reformatory    disriplino :    fishes 


1 2  Tfu  ReftublU  of  tht  Future. 

appear  to  have  been  born,  he  went  on  to  say 
without  the  most  rudimentary  form  of  the  moral 
instinct,  and  curiously  enough,  only  flourish  in 
proportion  as  they  are  allowed  to  act  out 
their  original  degenerate  nature.  He  also 
confessed  privately  to  me,  that  after  some 
twenty-five  years  active  work  among  them,  the 
results  of  his  labors  were  most  discouraging. 
Since,  however,  the  Hutldhistic  doctrine  of 
metempsychosis  has  come  to  be  so  universally 
accepted,  and  as  each  one  of  these  poor  creat- 
ures is  in  reality  a  soul  in  embryo,  it  behoves 
mankind  to  do  all  that  lies  in  its  power  to  ele- 
vate all  tribes  and  species. 

As  you  may  well  imagine,  my  dear  Ilannevig, 
with  such  spectacles  and  speculations  to  enliven 
the  journey,  I  found  it  all  too  .short.  Its  short- 
ness was,  in  truth,  the  only  drawback  to  my 
Comj)lete    enjoyment.      The    wonders    of    the 


The  Republic  of  the  future.  \  3 


journey,  I  found,  were,  however,  only  a  fitting 
prelude  to  the  surprises  that  awaited  me  on  my 
arrival.  I  leave  an  account  of  both  these  sur- 
prises  and  of  my  first  impressions  of  the  preat 
city  until  my  next  letter,  as  this  one,  I  find,  has 
already  grown  to  the  proportions  of  an  ancient 
epistle. 

I  am,  my  dear  H;^nnevig, 

Your  life-long  friend  and  comrade, 

Wolfgang. 


14 


The  Kcpuhlic  of  thf  Future. 


II. 


Dkar  Hannevig  : 

The  three  days'  time  which  has  elapsed  since 
my  last  letter  to  you,  has  been  so  crowded  witli 
a  confusion  of  bewildered  impressions  produced 
by  this  astonishing  city  and  its  still  more  aston- 
ishing inhabitants,  that  I  am  in  doubt  whether 
1  shall  be  able  to  convey  t«)  you  any  clearer 
pictures  than  those  which  fill  the  disordered 
canvas  of  my  own  mind.  I  will,  however,  strive 
to  reproduce  my  experiences  in  the  order  in 
which  they  came  to  me,  and  allow  you  to  draw 
your  own  conclusions. 


The  Republic  of  the  Future.  15 


The  first  amaziiif^  thing  that  happened  tome 
was  the  way  in  which  I  reached  my  hotel. 
Fancy  being  blown  up  on  the  shore,  for  the 
pneumatic  tube  being  many  hundreds  of  feet 
below  the  shore  level,  wc  were  literally  blown 
up  on  the  beach  ;  there  we  found  air-balloon 
omnibuses,  into  which  wc  and  our  luggage  were 
transported  by  means  of  little  electrical  cars, 
running  on  an  inclined  plane.  The  balloon  rose 
about  a  thousand  feet  into  the  air,  affording  a 
fine  view  of  the  city.  Great  is  not  a  large 
enough  word  to  describe  so  vast  a  city  as  this 
city  of  the  Socialists — it  has  the  immensity  of 
an  unending  plain,  and  the  flatness  of  one  also. 
In  former  times,  I  believe,  the  original  city  was 
an  island,  on  cither  side  of  which  flowed  a 
river;  but  as  more  and  more  land  became 
ncccssar}*  new  channels  for  these  rivers  were 
dug,  and  the  river  beds   filled  in,  .so  that   now, 


16  The  Ref^uhlif  0/  the  Future. 


far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  there  is  a  limitless 
expanse  of  roof-tops. 

As  seen  from  an  aerial  elevation,  there  was 
nothing  to  attract  the  eye  from  the  picturesque 
standpoint — there  were  few  larj^e  buildings  of 
noticeable  size  orbcauty.  The  city  was  chiefly 
remarkable  because  of  its  immensity.  When 
landed  at  my  hotel  I  found  these  first  impres- 
sions confirmed  by  a  nearer  view. 

First  let  mc  tell  you,  however,  that  after 
entering  the  vestibule  of  the  hotel,  I  felt  as  if 
I  had  stepped  into  some  dwelling  of  gnomes  or 
sprites.  Not  a  human  being  presented  himself. 
No  one  appeared  to  take  ni)'  luggage,  nor  was 
a  clerk  or  hall  boy  visible  anywhere.  The  great 
hall  ()f  the  hotel  was  as  deserted  and  silent  as 
an  empty  tomb:  at  first  I  c<uild  not  even  dis- 
cover a  bell.  Presently,  however,  I  saw  a  huge 
iron  hand  pointing  to  an  adjacent  table.  On  the 


The  Rf public  of  tJtC  Future. 


tabic  lay  a  bi^  book  with  a  placard  on  which 
was  printed,  "  Please  xvrite  name^  country, 
length  of  stay  and  number  of  rooms  desired'' 
All  of  which  I  did.  The  book  then  miraculously 
closed  itself  and  disappeared  !  The  next  instant 
a  tray  made  its  appearance  where  the  book  had 
been,  on  the  tray  was  a  key,  and  on  the  key  a 
taj;  with  a  number  and  the  words,  "  Take  cle- 
t'ator  at  your  left  to  third  flighty  The  elevator 
as  I  stepped  into  it,  stopped  as  if  by  maj;ic  at 
the  third  stor)%  when  another  iron  hand  shot 
out  of  the  wall,  pointing  mc  to  the  left.  Soon 
I  found  the  room  assigned  me.  opened  it,  and 
entered  to  discover  the  apartment  in  complete 
order,  and  the  faucets  in  the  bath-chamber 
actually  turned  on! 

My  dear  Hannevig,  can  you  believe  mc  when 
1  tell  you  that  I  have  been  in  this  hotel  four 
mortal  days,  have  eaten  three  substantial  meals 


iS  Thf  Repuhlii  of  the  Future. 


a  day,  have  been  fairly  comfortable,  and  yet 
have  not  seen  a  human  creature,  from  a  land- 
lord to  a  ser\'ant  ?  The  whole  establishment 
apparently  is  run  by  machiner)'.  There  is  a 
complicated  bell  ap|)aratus  which  you  ring  for 
every  conceivable  want  or  need.  Meals  arc 
scrx'cd  in  one's  own  room,  by  a  system  of  in- 
genious sliding  shelves,  which  open  and  shut, 
and  disappear  into  the  wall  in  the  most  wizard- 
like manner.  Of  course  the  reason  of  all  these 
contrivances  is  obvious  enough.  In  a  society 
w  here  labor  of  a  degrading  order  is  forbidden 
by  law.  machiner)-  must  be  used  as  its  substi- 
tute. It  is  all  well  enoui;h.  I  ])resume,  from  the 
laborer's  point  of  view.  lUit  for  a  traveller, 
bent  on  a  pleasure  trip,  machinery  as  a 
substitute  for  a  garrulous  landlord,  and  a  score 
of  servants,  however  bail,  is  found  to  be  a  poor 
aiul      somewhat     monotonous    companion.     1 


The  Republic  of  the  Future.  19 


amuse  myself,  however,  with  perpetually  test- 
ing all  the  bells  and  the  electrical  apparatus, 
calling  for  a  hundred  things  I  don't  want,  to  see 
whether  they  will  come  through  the  ceiling 
or  up  the  floor. 

Most  of  my  time,  however,  is  spent  in  the 
streets.  My  earlier  impressions  of  the  city  I  find 
remain  unchanged.  It  is  as  flat  as  your  hand  and 
as  monotonous  as  a  twice-told  tale.  Never 
was  there  such  monotony  or  such  dullnes.s. 
Each  house  is  precisely  like  its  neighbor.  Each 
house  has  .so  many  rooms,  so  many  windows, 
50  many  square  feet  of  garden,  which  latter  no 
one  cultivates,  as  flowers  and  grass  entail  a 
certain  amount  of  manual  labor,  which,  it 
appears,  is  thought  to  be  degrading  by  these 
socialists.  Imagine,  therefore,  miles  upon  miles 
of  a  city  composed  of  little  two-story  houses  as 
like  one  unto  another  as  two  brown  nuts.  There 


20  The  Republie  of  thf  Future. 


arc  parks  and  theatres  and  museums,  and 
libraries,  the  Peoples'  Clubs,  and  innumerable 
state  buildings  ;  but  these  are  all  architectur- 
ally tasteless,  as  utility  has  been  the  only  feat- 
ure considered  in  their  construction.  Ever)' 
thing  here,  from  the  laying  out  of  the  city  to 
the  last  detail  concerning  the  affairs  of  com- 
merce or  trade  is  arranged  according  to  the 
socialistic  principle — by  the  j)cople  f(ir  the 
People.  The  city  itself  was  rebuilt  a  hundred 
years  ago,  in  orilcr  that  the  houses  and  the 
public  buildings  might  be  in  more  fitting  har- 
mony with  the  new  order  and  principles  of 
Socialism.  What  the  older  City  of  New  York 
may  have  been,  it  is  difficult  to  determine, 
although  it  is  supposed  to  h.ivc  been  ugly 
enough.  lUit  this  modern  city  is  the  ver)' 
acme  of  dreariness.  It  is  the  monotony  I  think, 
which  chiefly  depresses  me.     It  is  not  that  the 


Th£  Republic  of  the  Future.  2 1 


houses  do  not  seem  comfortable,  clean  and 
orderly,  for  all  these  virtues  they  possess. 
But  fancy  seeing  miles  upon  miles  of  little  two- 
story  houses !  The  total  lack  of  contrast 
which  is  the  result  of  the  plan  on  which  this 
socialistic  city  has  been  built,  comes, of  course, 
from  the  principle  which  has  decreed  that  no 
man  can  have  any  finer  house  or  better  interior, 
or  finer  clothes  than  his  neighbor.  The  aboli- 
tion of  poverty,  and  the  raising  of  all  classes 
to  a  common  level  of  comfort  and  security,  has 
resulted  in  the  most  deadening  uniformity. 
Take  for  example,  the  aspect  of  the  shop  win- 
dows. All  shops  are  run  by  the  government  on 
government  capital.  There  is,  consequently,  nei- 
ther rivalr)'  nor  competition.  The  shop  keep- 
ers, who  are  in  reality  only  clerks  and  sales- 
men under  government  jurisdiction,  take 
naturally,  no  personal  or  vital  interest  either 


22  Thi  Republic  of  thf  Future. 

in  the  amount  of  goods  sold,  or  in  the  way  in 
which  these  latter  are  placed  before  the  public. 
The  shop-windows,  therefore,  arc  as  uninviting 
as  are  the  goods  displayed.  ^  Only  useful,  neces- 
sary objects  and  articles  are  to  be  seen.  The 
eye  seeks  in  vain  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  city  for  any  thing  really  beau- 
tiful, for  the  lovely,  or  the  rare.  Objects  of  art 
and  of  beauty  find,  it  seems,  no  market  here. 
Occasionally  the  Government  makes  a 
purchase  of  some  foreign  work  of  art,  or 
seizes  on  some  on  some  of  those  re- 
cently excavated  from  the  ruins  of  some 
19th  century  merchant's  palace.  The  picture 
or  vase  is  then  placed  in  the  museums,  where 
the  people  arc  supposed  to  enjoy  its  pos- 
session. 

To   connect  the    word   enjoyment  with  the 
aspect    of    these    serious   socialists    is    almost 


The  Republic  of  the  Future.  23 

laughable.  A  more  sober  collection  of  people 
I  never  beheld.  They  arc  as  solemn  as  the 
oldest  and  wisest  of  owls.  They  have  the 
look  of  people  who  have  come  to  the  end  of 
things  and  who  have  failed  to  find  it  amusing. 
The  entire  population  appear  to  be  eternally^ 
in  the  streets,  wandering  up  and  down,  with 
their  hands  in  their  pockets,  on  the  lookout  for 
something  that  never  happens.  Wliat  in- 
deed, is  there  to  happen  ?  Have  they 
not  come  to  the  consummation  of  ever)^- 
thing,  of  their  dreams  and  their  hopes 
and  desires?  A  man  can't  have  his  dream 
and  dream  it  too.  Realization  has  been 
found  before  now,  to  be  exceedingly  dull 
play. 

As  it  is.  I  am  free  to  confess,  that  the  dull- 
ness and  apathy  of  these  ideally-perfect  social- 
ist «*  weighs  on  mc.  My  views  of  their  condition 


24 


Thi  KepublU  of  the  Future. 


may  change    when     I    come    to    know    them 
better. 

It  is  late  and  I  must  close. 

Ever  yours,  W. 


The  Republic  of  the  Futut  r. 


25 


ITT. 


Curiously  enough,  my  dear  fellow,  the  very 
next  day  after  dispatching  my  last,  I  found  my- 
self involved  in  a  long  and  most  interesting 
conversation  with  the  daughter  of  one  of  the 
city  residents.  I  had  brought  letters  of  intro- 
duction to  a  certain  gentleman,  and  after  a 
search  of  some  hours  through  the  eternal  laby- 
rinth of  these  unending  streets,  found  the  house 
to  which  I  had  been  directed.  The  gentleman, 
or  rather  citizen,  as  all  men  are  called  here,  was 
not  at  home.     I  was,  however,  received  by  his 


Tht  Rff'uNu  of  thi  J'uiure, 


daughter,  a  plain  but  seemingly  agreeable,  in- 
telligent young  woman.  The  women  dress  so 
exactly  like  the  men  in  this  country  that  it  is 
somewhat  difficult  to  tell  the  sexes  apart. 
Women,  however,  usually  betray  themselves  as 
soon  as  they  speak  by  their  voices. 

This  young  lady  had  an  unusually  pleasant 
voice  and  manner,  and  we  were  soon  deep  in 
the  agreeable  intricacies  of  a  lengthy  con- 
versation. I  had  any  number  of  questions  to 
ask,  and  she  appeared  to  be  most  willing  to 
answer  them. 

My  first  queslion.  I  remember,  was  an  emi- 
nently practical  one.  It  was  on  the  subject  of 
chimneys  and  cooking.  I  h.ul  noticed  almost 
immediately  on  my  arrival  that,  throughout 
the  entire  city,  not  a  chimney  was  to  be  seen. 
It  was  this  fact  more  than  any  other  that  gave 
the  city  the  appearance  of  a  plain,  and  made  the 


The  Republic  of  the  Future.  27 

houses  seem  curiously  deformed.  It  naturally 
followed  that,  there  being  no  chimneys,  there 
was  also  no  smoke,  which  therefore  made 
this  already  sufficiently  clear  atmosphere  as 
pure  as  the  air  on  a  mountain-top.  All  very 
beautiful,  I  said  to  myself,  but  how  do  the 
people  get  along  without  cooking?  I,  in  my 
quality  of  stranger  and  foreigner,  had  made  the 
interesting  discovery  that  my  own  meals  were 
prepared  to  my  taste  by  specially  appointed 
State  cooks — a  law  only  recently  passed  to 
facilitate  international  relations.  The  latter, 
it  appears,  had  become  somewhat  strained, 
nhcn  travelers  had  found  themselves  forced  to 
abide  by  the  rules  and  regulations  governing 
the  socialists' diet.  But  what  was  this  diet? 
rhis  was  the  myster)^  which  had  been  puzzling 
mc  ever  since  my  arrival.  So  that  when  I 
found  myself  face  to  face  with  my  ycung  lady, 


28  Th€  Rf public  of  tfu  Future. 

I  promptly  implored  her  to  solve  my  dilemma. 
**  Oh,"  she  replied,  "  cooking  has  gone  out 
long  ago.  To  do  any  cooking  is  considered 
dreadfully  old-fashioned."  "Has  eating  also 
gone  out  of  fashion  in  this  wonderful  country  ?" 
I  asked  in  amazement. 

She  laughed  as  she  replied,  **  Eating  hasn't, 
but  we  do  it  in  a  more  refined  way.  Instead 
of  kitchens  wc  now  have  conduits,  culinary 
conduits." 

*'  Culinary  conduits?  "  I  asked,  still  in  a  daze 
of  wonderment. 

•'Oh,  I  see  you  don't  understand,"  she  an- 
swered ;  **  you  haven't  been  here  long  enough 
to  know  how  such  things  are  arrangeil.  Let  me 
explain.  The  State  scientists  now  regulate  all 
such  matters.  Once  a  month  our  Officer  of 
Hygiene  comes  and  examines  each  member  of 
the  household.     He  then  prescribes  the  kind  of 


The  Republic  of  the  Future.  29 


food  he  thinks  you  require  for  tlic  next  few 
weeks,  whether  it  shall  be  more  or  less  phos- 
phates,  or  cereals,  or  carnivorous  preparations. 
He  leaves  a  paper  with  you.  You  then  touch 
this  spring— see?"  and  here  she  put  her  pretty 
white  finger  on  a  button  in  the  wall.  "  You 
whistle  through  the  aperture  to  the  Culinary 
Board,  put  in  the  paper,  and  it  is  sent  to  the 
main  office.  You  then  receive  supplies  for 
the  ensuing  month." 

"  And  where  is  this  wonderful  board  ?  " 

"  It  is  in  Chicago,  where  all  the  great  gran- 
aries arc.  You  know  Chicago  supplies  the  food 
for  the  entire  United  Community." 

"  But  Chicago  is  a  thousand  miles  off.  Isn't 
all  the  food  stale  by  the  time  it  reaches  you  ?  " 

Here  .she  laughed,  although  I  could  see  she 
tried  very  hard  not  to  do  so.  But  my  ignorance 
was  evidently  too  amazingly  funny.    When  she 


30  The  Republic  of  the  Future. 

had  rcffaincd  composure  she  answered  :  **  The 
food  is  sent  to  us  by  electricity  through  the 
culinary  conduits.  Every  thing  is  blown  to  us 
in  a  few  minutes*  time,  if  it  be  necessary,  if  the 
food  is  to  be  eaten  hot.  If  the  food  be  cereals  or 
condensed  meats,  it  is  sent  by  pneumatic 
express,  done  up  in  bottles  or  in  pellets.  All 
such  food  is  carried  about  in  one's  pocket.  We 
take  our  food  as  wc  drink  water,  wherever  we 
may  happen  to  be,  when  it's  handy  ami  when 
wc  need  it.  Although,"  she  addcti  with  a 
sigh,  "I  sometimes  do  wish  I  had  liveil  in  the 
good  old  times,  in  the  nineteenth  centur)',  for 
instance,  when  such  dear  old-fashioned  customs 
were  in  vogue  as  iiaving  four-hour  dinners,  and 
the  ladies  were  taken  into  dinner  by  the  gen- 
tlemen and  every  one  wore  full  dress — the  dress 
of  the  period,  and  they  used  to  flirt — wasn't 
that  the  old  word?  over  their  wine  anti  dessert. 


The  Rrpuhlii  of  Ihr  Futiirr.  31 


How  cliartgcd  cvcr>'  thin^  is  now  !  However/* 
she  quickly  added,  "  if  kitchens  and  cooking; 
and  long  dinners  hadn't  been  abolished,  the 
final  emancipation  of  women  could  never  have 
been  accomplished.  The  perfecting  of  the 
woman  movement  was  retarded  for  hundreds 
of  years,  as  you  know,  doubtless,  by  the  slavish 
desire  of  women  to  please  their  husbands  by 
dressing  and  cooking  to  suit  them.  When  the 
last  pie  was  made  into  the  first  pellet,  woman's 
true  freedom  began.  She  could  then  cast  off 
her  subordination  boih  to  her  husband  and  to 
her  servants.  Women  were  only  free,  indeed, 
when  the  State  prohibited  the  hiring  of  ser- 
vants.  Of  course,  the  hiring  of  servants  at  all 
was  as  degrading  to  the  oppres^^cd  class  as  it 
was  a  clog  to  the  progress  of  their  mistresses' 
freedom.  The  only  way  to  rai«c  the  race 
was   to   put    every  one     on    the    same  level, 


^2  The  Rf public  of  the  Future. 

to  make  even  degrees  of  servitude  impos- 
sible." 

*'  Hut  how,  may  I  be  permitted  to  ask,  is  the 
rest  of  the  housework  accomplished,  if  no  ser- 
vants exist  to  take  charge  of  so  pretty  a  house 
as  this  one?"  (The  house,  my  dear  Hannevig, 
was  in  reality  hideous,  as  bare  and  as  plain  as 
arc  all  the  houses  here.  Each  is  furnished  by 
state  law,  exactly  alike). 

"Oh,  every  thing  is  done  by  machinery,  as  at 
your  hotel.  Every  thing,  the  sweeping,  bed 
making,  window  scrubbing  and  washing.  Each 
separate  department  has  its  various  appliances 
ami  apparatus.  The  women  of  every  house- 
hold are  taught  the  use  and  management  of  the 
various  machines,  )'ou  know,  at  the  expense 
of  the  state,  during  their  \outh  ;  when  they 
take  the  management  of  a  house  they  can  run 
it  single-handed.     Most  of  the  machinery  goes 


The  Rcpuhlii  of  the  Future.  33 

by  electricity.  A  house  can  be  kept  in  perfect 
order  by  two  hours'  work  daily.  The  only  hard 
work  which  wc  still  have  to  do  is  dusting.  No 
invention  has  yet  been  eflfccted  which  dusts 
satisfactorily  without  breakage  to  ornaments, 
which  accounts  for  the  fact,  also,  that  the 
fashion  of  having  odds  and  ends  about  a  home 
has  gone  out.  It  was  voted  years  ago  by  the 
largest  womans*  vote  ever  polled,  that  since  men 
could  not  create  self-adjusting,  non-destructive 
dusters,  their  homes  must  suffer.  Women  were 
not  to  be  degraded  to  hand  machines  for  the 
sake  of  ministering  to  men's  a:sthetic  tastes.  So 
you  sec  wc  have  only  the  ncccssar)'  chairs  and 
tables.  If  men  want  to  sec  pictures  thy  can  go 
to  the  museums  " 

Perhaps  it  is  this  latter  fact  which  accounts 
for  my  never  being  able  to  find  the  good  citizen 
A at  home.     He  is  gone  to  the  public  club, 


34  7V/^  Rf public  oj  t/u  J'uture. 

or  to  the  btith,  or  to  the  Communal  Theater, 
I  am  told,  when  I  appear  a^ain  and  again. 
This  wonderful  community  has  done  much,  of 
that  I  am  convinced,  in  the  development  of 
ideal  freedom  ;  but  there  appears  to  he  a  fatal 
blight  somewhere  in  its  principles,  a  blight  which 
seems  to  have  destroyed  all  delight  in  domestic 
life.  In  my  next  I  will  tell  you  more  and  at 
length,  of  the  peculiar  development  which  the 
race  has  attained  under  these  now  well-estab- 
lished emancipation  doctrines,  and  of  their 
results  on  the  two  sexes. 

I  hope  you  arc  not  wearying  of  my  somewhat 
lengthy  descriptions,  but  you  yourself  are  to 
blame,  as  you  bound  me  to  such  rigid  promises 
of  detail  and  accuracy. 

Farewell,  dear  comi)anion,  would  you  were 
here  to  use  your  wiser  philosopher's  eyes. 

I  am  yours,  WoMCANT.. 


Thr  Republic  of  t/ir  Fufurr. 


35 


■^r-r' 


Q^^^'^i^-^^^ 


c^-^ 


IV. 


Dear  FriknD:  No  one  tiling;,  I  think,  strikes 
the  foreigner's  eye,  on  his  arrival  in  this  extra- 
ordinary land  so  strongly  as  does  the  lack  of 
variety  and  of  taste  displayed  in  the  dress  of 
cither  the  men  or  the  women.  I^oth  sexes 
dress,  to  begin  with,  as  I  said  in  my  last,  pre- 
cisely alike.  As  it  is  one  of  the  unwritten 
!K>cial  laws  of  the  people  to  dress  as  simply, 
economically  and  sensibly  as  possible,  it  results 
that  there  is  neither  brightness  nor  color  nor 
beauty  of  line  in  any  of  the  garments  worn.   In 


36  The  Republic  0/  the  Jruture, 

passing  the  Government  Clothing  Distribution 
liureaus,  nothing  so  forcibly  suggests  the  iilcal 
equality  existing  between  the  sexes,  as  does  the 
sight  of  the  big  and  the  little  trowsers,  hanging 
side  by  side,  quite  unabashed,  the  straight  and 
the    baggy    legs    being    the    only    discernible 
difTerence.      Haggy  trowsers  and   a  somewhat 
long,  full  cloak  for  the  women — straight-legged 
trowsers  and  a  shorter  coat  for  the  men,  this  is 
the  dress  of  the  entire  population.    Some  of  the 
women  are  still  pretty,  in  spite  of  their  hideous 
clothes.     But  they  all  tell  me,  they  wouUin't  be 
if  they  could  help  it,  as  they   hold    that   the 
beauty  of  their  sex  was  the  chief  cause  of  their 
long-continued  former  slavery.     They  consider 
comeliness  now  as  a  brand  and  mark  of  which  to 
be   ashamed.     From    what    I    liavc   been    able 
to    observe,    however,    I    should    sa)'    that   the 
prettincss  which  has  descended  to  some  of  the 


The  Rf public  of  the  Future.  37 

women  fails  to  awaken  any  old-limc  sentiment 
or  gallantry  on  the  part  of  the  men.  There  has, 
I  Icarn,  been  a  gradual  decay  of  the  erotic 
sentiment,  which  doubtless  accounts  for  the 
indifference  among  the  men  ;  a  decay  which  is 
due  to  the  peculiar  relations  brought  about  by 
the  emancipation  of  woman. 

It  is  now  nearly  two  hundred  years  since 
women  have  enjoyed  the  same  freedom  and 
rights  as  men.  It  is  interesting  and  curious  to 
note  the  changes,  both  upon  the  character  and 
nature  of  the  two  sexes,  which  has  been  the 
result  of  this  development.  One's  first  impres- 
sion, in  coming  here,  is  that  women  are  the  sole 
inhabitants  of  the  countr)\  One  sees  them 
cvcr>^here — in  all  the  public  offices,  as  heads 
of  departments,  as  government  clerks,  asofficials, 
as  engineers,  machinists  aeronauts,  tax  col- 
lectors,  firemen,  filling,  in  fact,  ever)*  office  and 


38  The  Republic  of  the  Future. 

vocation  in  civil,  political  and  social  life.  The 
few  men — by  comparison,  whom  I  saw  seemed 
to  me  to  be  allowed  to  exist  as  specimen  ex- 
amples of  a  fallen  race.  Of  course,  this  view 
is  more  or  less  exaggeration.  But  the  women 
here  do  appear  to  possess  by  far  the  most 
energy,  vigor,  vitality  and  ambition.  Their 
predominance  in  office  just  now  is  owing  to  their 
over-powering  number,  the  women's  vote  polled 
being  ten  to  one  over  that  of  the  men.  This 
strong  sex  influence  has  been  fruitful  in  greatly 
changing  and  modifying  the  domestic,  social 
and  political  laws  of  the  community. 

Women,  for  instance,  having  satisfactorily 
emancipated  themselves  from  the  bondage  of 
domestic  drudgery  and  the  dominion  t)f  ser- 
vants, by  means  of  the  improvement  in  machin- 
ery and  the  invention  of  the  famous  culinary 
conduits,  found  one  obstacle  still  in  their  j)ath 


The  Republic  of  the  Future.  39 

to  complete  and  co-equal  man-freedom.  Tliere 
still  remained  the  children  to  be  taken  care  of 
and  brought  up.  As  motherhood  came  in 
course  of  time  to  be  considered  in  its  true  light, 
as  perhaps  the  chief  cause  of  the  degradation 
of  women,  it  was  finally  abolished  by  act  of 
legislature.  Women  were  still  to  continue  to 
bear  children,  or  else  the  socialistic  society 
itself  would  cease  to  be.  A  law  was  passed 
providing  that  children  almost  immediately 
after  birth,  should  be  brought  up,  educated 
and  trained  under  state  direction  to  be  returned 
to  their  parents  when  fully  grown,  and  ready 
for  their  duties  as  men  and  women  citizens. 
In  this  way  women  stand  at  last  on  as  absolutely 
equal  a  physical  plane  with  men  as  it  is  possible 
to  make  them. 

It  has  followed,  of  course,  that  with  the  juris- 
diction  of  the  state  over  the  children   of  the 


40  The  Republic  of  the  Future. 

community,  all  family  life  has  died  out.  Men 
and  women  live  together  as  man  and  wife,  but 
the  relation  between  them  has  become  more 
nominal  than  real.  It  is  sij^nificant  of  the 
changes  that  have  been  brought  about  between 
the  sexes,  that  the  word  '*  home  "  has  entirely 
dropped  out  of  the  language.  A  man's  house 
has  in  truth  ceased  to  be  his  home.  There  are 
no  children  there  to  greet  him,  his  wife,  who  is 
his  comrade,  a  man,  a  citizen  like  himself,  is  as 
rarely  at  home  as  he.  Their  food  can  be  eaten 
anywhere — there  is  no  common  board  ;  there  is 
not  even  a  servant  to  welcome  the  master  with  a 
smile.  The  word  wi/c  has  also  lost  all  its  origi- 
nal significance.  It  stands  for  nothing.  Hus- 
band and  wife  are  in  reality  two  men  having 
equal  rights,  with  the  same  range  of  occupation, 
the  same  duties  as  citizens  to  perform,  the 
same  haunts  and  the  same  dreary  leisure. 


2  he  Republic  of  the  J'uture,  41 

Is  il  therefore,  my  dear  Hannevig,  to  be  won- 
dered at,  that  all  ideas  of  love,  and  that  all 
strong  mutual  attraction  and  affections  should 
have  died  out  between  the  sexes?  Man  loves, 
longs  for  passionately  and  protects  with  tender 
solicitude  only  that  which  is  difficult  to  con- 
quer. The  imagination  must  at  least  be  in- 
flamed. Hut  where  there  is  no  struggle,  no  oppo- 
sition, no  conditions  which  breed  longing,  desire, 
or  the  poetry  of  a  little  healthy  despair,  how  is 
love  or  any  sentiment  at  all  to  be  awakened  or 
kindled  ?  Here  there  is  no  parental  authority 
to  make  a  wall  between  lovers,  nor  is  there 
inequality  of  fortunes,  nor  any  marked  differ- 
cncc  between  the  two  sexes,  even  in  their  daily 
duties  or  in  their  lives.  I  am  more  and  more 
impressed  with  the  conviction,  as  I  look  into  this 
question — this  question  of  what  wc  should  con- 
Mdcr  the  growth  of  an  abnormal  indifference 


42  The  Republic  of  the  J-uture. 

between  the  sexes — that  the  latter  cause  is  per- 
haps the  one  which  has  been  chiefly  instrumen- 
tal in  the  bringing  about  so  complete  a  change 
over  the  face  of  the  passions.  Woman  has 
placed  herself  by  the  side  of  man,  as  his  co- 
equal  in  labor  and  vocation,  only  to  make  the 
real  distance  between  them  the  greater.  She  has 
gained  her  independence  at  the  expense  of  her 
strongest  appeal  to  man,  her  power  as  mistress, 
wife  and  mother.  How  can  a  man  get  up  any 
very  vivid  or  profound  sentiment  or  affection 
for  these  men-women — who  arc  neither  mothers 
nor  housekeepers,  who  differ  in  no  smallest 
degree  from  themselves  in  their  pursuits  and 
occupation  ?  Constant  and  perpetual  compan- 
ionship, from  earliest  infancy  to  manhood  and 
old  age  has  resulted  in  blunting  all  sense  of  any 
real  difference  between  the  sexes.  Whatever 
slight  inequalities  may  still  exist  between  men 


The  Rrpuhlic  of  the  Future.  43 


and  women  in  the  matter  of  muscular  energy 
or  physical  strength  is  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  the  enormous  disproportion  be- 
tween them,  numerically,  as  voters. 

Some  very  curious  and  important  political 
changes  have  been  effected  by  the  preponder- 
ance of  the  woman's  vote. 

Wars,  for  instance,  have  been  within  the  last 
fifty  years  declared  illegal.  Woman  found  that 
whereas  she  was  eminently  fitted  for  all  men's 
avocations  in  time  of  peace,  when  it  came  to 
war  she  made  a  very  poor  figure  of  a  soldier. 
Wars,  therefore,  were  soon  voted  down  ;  foreign 
diflficulties  were  adjusted  by  arbitration.  As 
women,  as  a  rule,  were  sent  on  these  foreign 
diplomatic  missions,  I  have  heard  it  wickedly 
whispered  that  the  chief  cause  of  the  usually 
speedy  conclusion  of  any  trouble  with  a  foreign 
court  was  because  of  the  babel  of  tongues  which 


44  ^  lu  Kcpublu  of  the  Future, 

ensued:  a  foreign  court  bein^  willing  to  con- 
cede any  thing  ratlier  than  to  continue  negotia- 
tions with  women-diplomatists.  But  this  of 
course,  is  to  be  put  down  to  pure  malicious- 
ness. Women  since  time  immemorial,  have 
had  the  best  of  man  whenever  it  came  to  con- 
tests of  the  tongue,  and  this  appears  to  be  the 
one  insignia  of  their  former  prestige  which  the 
sex  insists  on  claiming. 

In  my  next  I  shall  tr\'  to  give  }ou  some  con- 
ception of  the  position  which  man  occupies,  as 
a  citizen  and  as  worker  in  this  ci^iimunity.  I 
shall,  I  think,  also  be  able  to  give  you  some 
most  interesting  results  of  the  effects  produced 
by  the  communistic,  socialistic  principles  which 
have  been  incorporatt d  Into  the  constitution  of 
this  people. 

It  is  late  and  I  am  wcar\',  so  farewell  for  a 
few  days.         Ever  and  c  vn.  . 


Thr  Rrf>uh]ic  of  the  Future. 


45 


V. 


More  and  more,  as  I  study  these  institu- 
tions, am  I  reminded  of  the  resemblance  be- 
tween these  American  socialists  and  the 
ancient  Spartans.  The  Spartan  was  also  a 
part  of  the  State — had  all  things  on  a  grand 
Communal  scale — had  public  games, public  thea- 
ters, baths,  museums  and  festivals,  being 
brought  up  by  the  state  and  his  womenkind 
considered  as  a  part  of  it. 

In  this  modern  community,  however,  there 
arc  two  important  features  which  the  sim- 
pler   Spartans    did   not   have    to  cope    with. 


46  Tht  KfpublU  o/  the  Futurf. 


The  Greeks  stood  at  tlic  dawn  of  civilization. 
The  American  finds  himself  at  what  he  con- 
siders is  the  completion  of  it.  I^rcak  away 
from  his  past  as  hard  as  ever  he  may  tr>', 
he  has  still  found  himself  heir  t<>  this  i)ast, 
and  his  heredity  dominates  him  in  s|)ite 
of  all  his  attcmj)ts  to  throw  it  off.  The 
(j reeks  also  were  a  warlike  peoj)le,  and  the 
American  is  a  peace  lover,  preferring  the 
pipe  to  the  sword.  Perhaps  above  all  else 
in  the  sum  of  these  differences  ouj^ht  we 
to  remember,  the  great  factor  of  machinery  as 
a  substitute  for  manual  labor.  The  sword 
raised  man  out  of  the  dust.  The  piston  has 
levelled  him  with  it.  I  belie  \e.  ni\-  tlear  Han- 
nevig,  that  if  machiner)'  h.id  never  been  in- 
vented, socialism  woukl  ne\er  have  been 
drcametl  of.  Machinery  was  the  true  cause  of 
the  conflict  between  cai)ital  and  labor,  and  not 


The  Republic  of  the  Fuiurr.  47 


the  unequal  distribution  of  land,  as  the  great 
founder  of  this  Communal  Society,  Henry 
George,  asserted  in  this  book,  the  bible  of  this 
people.  Machinery  needed  capital  to  run  it, 
and  was  more  or  less  indifferent  to  labor.  The 
laborer,  with  machinery  as  his  rival,  stood  a 
far  less  possible  chance  of  becoming  a  capitalist 
himself  than  he  did  when  battling  against  men  : 
his  duties  more  and  more  closely  resembling  in 
their  monotony  and  routine,  the  very  ma- 
chine that  he  was  called  on  to  feed,  in  turn 
rc-acting  in  his  natural  aptitude.  " 

However,  to  go  into  the  depths  of  this  knotty 
question  involves  too  much  space  for  a  letter. 
Let  me,  instead  recall  to  your  mind,  as  I  have 
recently  done  to  my  own,  the  chief  features  of 
importance  in  the  histor)*  of  this  people  which 
have  placed  them  where  they  now  are. 

You  recollect,  of  course,  the  terrible  reign  of 


48  Thf  RfpublU  0/  the  Futun 


blood  that  took  place  during  the  awful  conflict 
between  the  republican  Americans  antl  the 
socialists  and  anarchists  in  1900.  The  war 
began,  nominally,  as  an  act  of  resistance  on  the 
part  of  the  Americans  against  the  encroaching 
and  insistent  demands  of  the  socialists,  de- 
mands covering  the  abolishment  of  private 
ownership  in  land,  of  the  division  of  property, 
both  real  and  personal,  and  the  overthrow, 
generally  of  all  the  then  existing  economic  and 
social  institutions.  These  socialists  and  an- 
archists represented  the  foreign  element  in  the 
country,  those  who  had  imported  their  revolu- 
tionary  doctrines  with  them.  (If  I  remember 
rightly  the  early  Americans  had  given  all  rights 
of  citizenship  to  this  foreign  C(Mitingency,  in  a 
moment  of  mistaken  Republican  zeal,  a  polit- 
ical mistake  they  lived  to  rue  bitterly  later). 
Well,  at  first  in  this  anarrlii^t  war.  tlu'  Ameri- 


The  Republic  of  the  Future.  49 

cans  won,  did  they  not  ?  I  find  my  memory 
tripping  mc  at  times — possibly  would  have  con- 
tinucd  to  win  had  the  war  been  conducted  on 
strict  militar)^  tactics.  But  the  anarchists 
finding  themselves  unsuccessful  as  soldiers  and 
warriors,  resorted  to  the  ingenious  means  of 
destroying  their  enemies  by  the  use  of  explo- 
sives. Dynamite  accomplished  what  the  can- 
non and  the  bayonet  were  powerless  to  effect. 
Towns,  cities  and  even  the  villages  and  ham- 
lets,  were  lighted  by  the  torch  <^{  electricity 
and  scared  level  with  the  ground.  Dynamite 
was  reserved  for  the  armies  and  for  individual 
ofTcndcrs.  During  that  reign  of  destruction,  it 
seemed  as  if  not  a  man,  woman  or  child  would 
survive  to  cany  even  the  memory  of  the  great 
tragedy  to  their  graves  with  them. 

However,  since  the  anarchist's  plan  was  to 
reconstruct  the  whole  face  of  society  on  a  new 


50  The  Republic  of  tJu  Future. 

basis,  it  was  to  be  expected,  of  course,  that  the 
revolution  tliey  undertook  as  the  means  of 
eflfectin^j  this  \v(.iild  he  carried  through  at  what- 
ever cost. 

Tliere  is  one  feature  of  this  war  whicli  has 
always  struck  me  as  possessing  a  very  humor- 
ous side.  Tile  anarchists,  you  remember,  were 
foreigners,  cliicfly  Germans,  Irishmen  and  a  few 
Russians.  When  tlie  war  was  ended,  by  the  de- 
struction of  very  nearly  all  the  Republican  con- 
tingency, the  anarchists  broke  out  into  dissen- 
sion among  themselves.  The  (jerman  element 
would  not  submit  to  Irish  dictation — the  latter 
leaders  having,  apparently,  a  great  opinion  of 
lluir  own  talent  for  political  leailership — and 
tlic  Irish  in  turn  violently  resisted  the  Ger- 
man dicta.  A  veritable  anarchy  ensued  a 
war  so  fierce  that  it  looked  at  one  time  as  if 
the-  whole   continent  might    be    left    a   howling 


The  RcpublU  o/  the  l^uture.  5 1 


wilderness,  with  neither  conqueror  nor  con- 
quered to  enter  and  take  possession  of  what 
was  now,  in  truth,  but  a  desert.  Fortunately, 
however,  a  few  of  tlie  Americans  had  survived. 
Among  them  were  some  of  the  descendants  of 
the  ancient  New  England  statesmen.  These 
men,  although  under  sentence  of  death,  were 
liberated,  that  they  might  act  as  peacema- 
kers between  the  two  factions.  Americans, 
you  see,  had  had  so  much  experience  in  recon- 
ciling, conciliating  and  pacifying  the  difficulties 
between  the  Irish  and  German  parties  during 
the  American  Republican  era,  that  these 
survivors  were  eminently  fitted  to  adjust 
affairs  at  issue  between  them  now.  The 
American  Council  decided  that  the  Irishmen 
should  draw  up  the  laws  and  regulations 
for  the  new  Communal  and  Socialistic  constitu- 
tion, while  the  Germans  .should   sec  that  the 


5  2  T)u  Republic  of  the  Futurt. 

new  society  was  properly  org^anizcd  ;  a  decision 
which  proves  the  real  genius  for  statcscraft 
which  these  ingenious  Americans  possessed. 
For  Irishmen  arc  proverbially  affluent  of  ideas 
and  incapable  of  putting  them  into  action, 
unless  it  be  violent  action,  while  the  Germans 
have  proved  themselves  practical  organizers 
and  ideal  political  policemen.  The  sagacity  of 
the  old  American  Republicans  was  shown  in 
tlic  manner  in  which  they  themselves,  in  their 
era  of  power,  had  made  use  of  the  distinguish- 
ing qualities  of  tlic  two  races,  when  such 
hordes  overflowed  the  land  during  the  great 
emigration  period.  The  Irishmen  were  kept  in 
the  large  cities,  where  they  were  allowed  to  mis- 
govern the  towns  to  their  hearts'  desire,  being 
thus  given  a  vent  for  their  turbulent  political 
spirit ;  while  the  Germans,  on  the  contrary, 
were  sent  into  the  still  uncontiiurcd  wilderness 


The  Republic  of  t/u  Future.  53 

to  turn  it  into  a  garden  by  tlicir  industry  and 
thrift.  The  American  having  thus  made  use  of 
the  Irishmen  to  run  his  poh'tical  machinery  for 
him,  and  of  the  Germans  to  extend  the  territo- 
rial lines  of  order  and  civilization,  secured  unto 
himself  all  his  own  time  for  money  making. 
Hence  the  colossal  American  fortunes,  which, 
as  we  read  of  them  now,  seem  to  us  like  a  talc 
of  magicians.  Such  a  policy  must  have  seemed 
to  a  nineteenth-century  American  as  a  very 
shrewd  and  ingenious  way  of  utilizing  elements 
which  otherwise  might  prove  dangerous.  *The 
policy  was,  in  truth,  a  fatally  short-sighted  one, 
as  was  proved  later  ;  since  it  was  the  enormous 
accumulation  of  fortunes  in  a  few  hands  and 
the  suppo«icd  tyranny  of  capital  which  wrought 
to  a  frenzy  the  envy  and  anger  of  the  foreign 
poorer  classes,  then  under  the  sway  of  the 
anarchist  revolutionists. 


5  4  The  Republic  0/  the  Future. 

After  the  American  statesmen  had  made 
peace  between  the  conquering  but  quarrelsome 
anarchists,  these  latter  set  about  organizing 
the  new  society.  Anarchy  itself,  although  the 
principles  for  which  it  had  fought  and  con- 
quered now  prevailed,  it  was  found,  must  sub- 
ordinate itself  to  some  form  or  order  before  it 
could  hope  to  enforce  order  upon  others. 

The  Anarchist's  war-cry  Ivad  been,  as  you 
remember — Away  with  private  property !  away 
with  all  authority!  away  with  the  State  I  away 
with  all  political  machinery !  lUit  now  the 
leaders  discovered  that  a  belief  in  the  reign  of 
anarchy  was  one  thing,  and  its  practice  was 
quite  another.  I^'or  a  time,  as  you  know,  there 
was  a  terrible  period  of  disorder,  during  which 
the  grossest  excesses  were  practiced  under  the 
name  of  "  Perfect  Individualism,"  "a  common 
property,  common   freedom,  common  distribu- 


The  Republic  of  the  Future.  55 

tion  for  all."  After  a  few  years  of  the  wildest 
indulgence,  rapacity,  crime,  and  cruelty — for, 
of  course,  there  being  no  government,  there 
could  be  neither  restraints  imposed  nor  crimes 
punished — the  people  themselves  at  last  began 
to  cry  aloud  for  some  form  of  government 
which  should  include  at  least  order  and  decency. 
The  Socialists'  doctrines  were  then  decided 
upon  as  being  more  in  conformity  with  the 
demands  of  the  people  and  with  the  necessities 
of  organizing  a  state  than  were  the  formless 
theories  of  the  anarchists. 

The  leaders  among  the  people,  as  has  been 
done  so  many  times  before  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  began  again  the  making  of  new  laws, 
for  the  establishment  of  an  ideal  government 
and  the  forming  of  a  new  constitution  which 
wa^  to  insure  perfect  and  complete  happiness 
to  the  individual  and  the  race. 


56  The  Ki'publii  of  the  Future. 

^  For  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  now,  this 
ideal  socialistic  society  had  existed,  and  wliat 
arc  the  results?  No  people  ever  assuredly  had 
a  more  wonderful  chance  at  constructing  a 
society  on  an  ideal  basis  than  had  these  social- 
ists. Think  of  it!  An  entire  continent  at 
their  disposal,  their  enemies  or  opponents  all 
killed  or  in  exile,  and  they  themselves  united 
in  desire  and  in  political  interest.  Well,  if 
some  of  tlic  ineradicable,  indestructible  prin- 
ciples in  luinian  nature  could  be  changed  as 
easily  as  laws  arc  made  ami  unmade,  the 
chances  for  an  ideal  realization  of  the  happiness 
of  mankind  would  be  the  more  easily  attained. 
Hut  the  Socialists  committed  the  grave  error  of 
omitting  t(j  count  some  of  these  determining 
human  laws  into  the  sum  of  their  calculations. 
Time  antl  ])aj)er  are,  however,  finite,  and 
also,  presumably,  your  patience.     I  will   post- 


The  Republic  of  the  Future. 


57 


pone  until  my  next  the  few  remaining  conclu- 
sions to  which  a  brief  study  of  this  people  and 
their  government  have  led. 

Your  faithful 

Wolfgang. 


S8 


The  Republic  of  the  Future. 


VI. 


Dear  FriknD:  The  longer  I  stay  here  the 
more  1  am  impressed  with  the  profound  mel- 
ancholy which  appears  to  have  taken  possession 
of  this  peo[)le.  The  men,  particularly,  seem 
sunk  in  a  torpor  of  dejection  and  settled  apa- 
thy. The  women,  although  b)'  no  means  so 
vivacious  and  vigorous  as  our  women,  arc,  how- 
ever, far  more  animated,  and  seem  to  have  a 
keener  relish  for  life,  than  the  men.     Probably 


The  Republic  of  the  Futurr.  59 

the  comparatively  recent  emancipation  of  the 
women,  their  new  political  and  social  freedom, 
adds  a  zest  to  the  routine  of  life  here  which 
men  do  not  feel. 

So  universal  is  the  dreary  aspect  of  the  peo- 
ple, whether  at  work  or  play — and  they  play,  I 
observe,  far  more  languidly  than  they  work — 
that  the  type  of  face  among  them  has  under- 
gone a  strange  and  interesting  transformation. 
Vou  remember  in  the  old  prints  the  typical 
"Yankee  "  face,  with  its  keen,  penetrating  eye, 
its  courageous,  determined  chin,  its  intelligent 
brow,  and  its  extraordinarily  shrewd  and  in- 
tently alert  expression.  This  vivacity  and 
energy,  once  the  chief  charm  of  the  American 
face,  has  entirely  disappeared.  In  its  stead, 
imagine  wooden, almost  sodden  features,  heavy, 
dull  eyes,  receding  chins,  and  a  brow  on  which 
dullness  that  very  nearly  approaches  stupidity  is 


6o  The  Republic  of  the  Puture, 

writ  in  larijc  letters.  On  all  the  fiices  is  a  ste- 
reotyped expression,  a  mingling  of  discontent 
and  dejection.  There  is  the  same  lack  of  vari- 
ety of  types  among  the  faces  I  have  noticed,  as 
there  is  a  want  of  contrast  in  the  houses  and 
streets.  The  entire  population  appears  to  have* 
one  face;  wherever  one  turns  one  sees  it  repeat- 
ed ad  infinitum,  whether  it  be  that  of  man 
or  woman,  youth  or  old  age. 

I  have  accounted  to  myself  for  this  curious 
physiological  uniformity  by  finding  in  it  simply 
a  reflection  of  the  uniformity  seen  in  the  life 
and  occupations  of  this  people.  The  race  hav- 
ing been  leveled  to  a  common  plane,  there  has 
been  a  gradual  dying  out  of  individuality.  The 
inevitable  curtailment  of  individual  aims,  indi- 
vidual struggle,  individual  ambitions,  has  natu- 
rally resulted  in  producing  a  featureless  type  of 
character,  common  to  all.     Since,  of  course,  it 


The  Rrpidhlic  of  the  Future.  Oi 

is  character  alone  which  mulds  feature,  this 
people,  being  all  more  or  less  alike,  have  come, 
in  process  of  time,  to  look  alike.  Nature,  after 
all,  is  only  clay  in  the  potter's  hand.  Man, 
with  his  laws  and  creeds,  fashions  \x\  the  end 
his  own  face. 

I  found  it,  however,  far  more  difficult  to 
account  for  the  cloud  of  melancholy  and  dejec- 
tion which  appears  to  have  settled  upon  this 
people,  than  to  seek  the  causes  of  the  above 
physiological  aspect.  I  asked  myself,  again 
and  again,  why  should  this  people,  of  all  peo- 
ple, be  full  of  this  discontent  and  unhappi- 
ness  ?  Haven't  they  come  to  the  realization  of 
all  their  dreams?  Have  they  not  attained  to 
the  very  summit  and  to  the  full  glc>ry  of  the 
possession  of  their  social,  civic  and  political 
desires  and  aspirations?  Is  there  not  equality 
of  sex?     Has  not  leisure  instead  of  labor  be- 


62  TfU  Rtpublic  cj  tJu  Future. 

come  a  law?  Is  not  private  property  abolished 
— is  not  the  land  the  property  of  the  State — 
the  waj;e  system  become  a  thing  of  the  past, 
and  the  possession  of  capital  made  a  crime 
punishable  bylaw?  Does  not  the  State  also 
exist  for  the  people,  educating  them,  training 
them  for  their  work  in  life,  distributing  among 
tliem  any  surplus  funds  that  the  public  treasury 
may  accumulate,  and  furnishing  for  their 
amusement  and  leisure  a  vast  s)'stem  of  edu- 
cational clubs,  educational  theaters,  public 
games,  museums  and  shows?  If  a  people  are 
not  happy  under  such  conditions,  what  will 
insure  content  ? 

Yet  come  with  me.  Let  us  walk  tluou^li  the 
principal  thoroughfares,  and  watch  the  multi- 
tudes of  people  wandering  listlessly  up  ami 
down  the  streets;  let  us  see  them  as  they  drift 
aimlessly  into  the  theaters,  museums,  clubs;  let 


The  Republic  of  thr  Future.  65 

us  look  in  on  them  as  ihcy  idly  finger  the 
new  books  and  newspapers,  yawning  over 
tlicm  as  they  read,  and  you  will  agree  with 
me,  that  the  entire  population  seems  to  have 
but  one  really  serious  purpose  in  life — to 
murder  time  which  appears  to  be  slowly  killing 
them. 

After  much  thought  on  the  reasons  of  this 
strange  apathy,  this  inertia,  and  sloth  of  energy, 
I  have  come  to  two  conclusions  which  have 
helped  me  to  solve  the  problem  of  this  people's 
unhappiness.  My  first  conclusion  is  that  the 
people  arc  dying  for  want  of  work ;  of 
downright  hard  work  ;  my  second  conclusion 
is  that  in  tr)Mng  to  establish  the  law  of 
equality,  the  founders  of  this  ideal  commu- 
nity committed  the  fatal  mistake  of  counting 
out  those  indestructible,  ineradicable  human 
tendencies  and  aspirations  which  have  hitherto 


04  Thf  Rfpublii  of  the  Future. 


been  the  source  of  all  human  progress,  to  which 
I  alluded  in  my  last  letter. 

First,  let  us  take  the  subject  of  work.  As  all 
work,  men  and  women  alike,  and  as  machinery 
has  been  brought  here  to  a  wonderful  degree  of 
perfection,  the  actual  labor  necessary  to  main- 
tain the  people  is,  of  necessity,  very  light.  At 
first,  a  hundred  or  so  years  ago,  in  the  early 
days  of  the  community,  the  time  of  labor  was 
fixed  at  five  hours  per  day.  Hut  every  decade, 
with  the  growth  of  the  population,  the  labor 
hours  have  been  diminishing.  Recently  a  law 
has  been  ])ut  into  effect,  forbidding  any  one's 
working  more  than  two  hours  a  day.  This  lat- 
ter law  has  been  found  to  be  an  actual  neces- 
sity, from  an  economic  point  of  view,  as  a  i)ro- 
vision  against  surplus  production.  ^  A  man, 
therefore,  has  the  whole  of  the  rest  of  his  day 
on  his  hands,  to  spend  as  best  he  may. 


Thr  Rrpuhlii  oj   f/ic  luturc.  65 

The  original  liope  and  belief  of  the  founders 
of  Socialism  was  that  if  the  people  could  only 
be  given  sufficient  leisure,  the  whole  race  would 
be  lifted  to  an  extraordinary  plane  of  perfec- 
tion :  that,  were  men  given  time  enough,  each 
man  and  woman  would  devote  himself  and  her- 
self to  the  development  and  improvement  of 
his  or  her  mental  tastes  and  capacities.  At  first, 
I  believe,  such  was  the  case.  For  at  least  thirty 
years  there  was  an  extraordinary  zeal  for  learn- 
ing and  self-improvemcnt.  But  in  time,  a  re- 
action came.  The  founders  had  forgotten  to 
make  allowances  for  the  mass  of  sluggards, 
idlers,  and  ne'er-do-wells  who  arc  always  the  im- 
movable block  in  the  reformer's  path  of  progress. 
Two  parties  were  soon  developed  ;  the  party 
of  cnlightment  and  the  conservative  party. 
Learning  being  the  sole  channel  for  the  exercise 
of  individual  capacity  or  individual  ambition, 


66  The  Republic  of  the  Future. 

ihe  old  baneful  system  of  competition  soon 
developed  itself.  A  superior  class,  a  class 
composed  of  scholars,  students,  artists  and 
authors,  arose,  whose  views  and  whose  political 
ideas  threatened  the  very  life  ami  liberties  of 
the  community.  The  aristocracy  of  intellect,  it 
was  found  was  as  dangerous  to  the  State  as  an 
aristocracy  founded  on  pride  of  descent  or  on 
the  possession  of  ancestral  acres.  It  became 
necessary,  therefore,  to  make  a  law  against 
learning  and  the  sciences.  All  scholars,  authors, 
artists  and  scientists  who  were  fouiul  on  ex- 
amination to  be  more  gifted  llian  the  average, 
were  exiled. 

A  strict  law  was  passed,  and  h.is  since  been 
rigidly  enforced,  forbidding  mental  or  artistic 
development  being  carried  beyond  .i  certain 
fixed  standard,  a  standard  attain.iblc  b)'  all. 
Quite    naturally    learning    and     the    arts   have 


The  Rrf^uhlii-  of  the  Future.  67 


gradually  died  out  among  this  people.    Where 
there  arc  no  rewards  either  of  fame  or  personal 
advancement,  the    spur    to    mental  or  artistic 
achievement  is  found  wanting.     The  arts  par- 
ticularly    have    languished.      Art,    as    is    well 
known,  can   only  live  by  the   strength  of  the 
imagination— and   the   imagination   is    fed    by 
contrasts  of  life  and  degreesof  picturesqueness. 
One  of  the  old  American   sages,    Kmerson    I 
think  it  was,  well  said  of  the  artist,  "  If  the  rich 
were  not  rich,  how  poor  would  the  poet  be!" 
Quite  naturally,  in   such  a  civilization  as  this, 
no  conditions  exist  for  either  creating  or  main- 
taining  artistic  ability. 

Can  you  not  imagine,  my  dear  Hannevig, 
that  under  such  a  system  and  order  of  life,  time 
might  be  found  to  be  a  weighty  burden  ?  After 
the  two  hour5  devoted  to  labor,  there  are  still 
fourteen  waking  hours  to  be  be  di<«po»ed  of.  The 


68  The  Republic  of  the  Future. 

people  have,  it  is  true,  their  clubs  and  their 
theaters,  the  national  games,  their  libraries  and 
gardens.  Hut  just  because  all  these  are  free 
and  at  their  command,  is,  I  presume,  reason 
enough  for  their  finding  the  amusements  thus 
provided  tame  and  uninteresting.  Most  of  the 
inhabitants  of  this  city  spend  their  days  at  the 
gymnasium.  In  the  exercises  and  games  there 
practiced,  one  sees  the  only  evidence  or  show 
of  excitement  and  interest  indulged  in.  Hoth 
men  and  women  are  muscled  like  athletes,  from 
their  continual  exercises  and  perpetual  bathing. 
The  athletic  party  is  now  tning  to  pass  a  law 
to  permit  races  and  contests  on  the  old  Greek 
plan.  Hut  the  conservatives  will  scarcely  pass 
it,  as  thc>-  urge  that  the  Olympian  games,  by 
developing  the  physical  powers,  was  in  reality 
only  a  training-school  for  the  Greek  army,  and 
internecine  trouble  and  dissension  would  surely 


The  Republic  of  the  Future.  69 

follow  any  such   public   games,  as   they  did  in 
the  Greek  states. 

You  have,  I  believe,  asked  me  if  the  people 
here  are  not  allowed  to  find  a  scope  for  their 
superfluous  energies  in  politics.  Hut  politics, 
as  a  profession,  as  a  separate  and  independent 
function  of  activity,  has  ceased  to  exist.  The 
state  or  Government  is  run  on  the  great  uni- 
versal principle  of  reciprocity  which  governs 
the  entire  community.  It  exists  for  the  people, 
is  administered  by  the  people,  and  acts  for  the 
people.  All  surplus  revenues,  derived  from  a 
minimum  of  equalized  taxation  arc  turned  over 
to  the  public  fund,  being  applied  to  public  use. 
The  machinery  of  the  Government  is  run  on  the 
same  principle  of  light  labor  which  governs 
individual  exertions.  Each  citizen,  men  and 
women  alike,  of  course,  ser\*es  his  or  her  term 
as  a  government  official,  as  in  old  Prussia  men 


7°  The  Republic  of  the  Future. 

served  in  the  army.  As  no  one  is  ever  re- 
elected, no  matter  what  his  capacity  or  ability, 
and  as  each  citizen  only  ser\'es  once  during  his 
life-time,  there  is  no  such  thing  known  as  poli- 
tical strife,  or  bribery  or  corruption.  Neither 
is  there  any  political  life.  The  government  is 
as  automatic  a  performance  as  one  of  the  silk- 
looms  of  a  factory. 

There  are  certain  changes  which  have  lately 
taken  place  in  the  political  and  international 
affairs  of  the  people  which  lead  one  into  a 
labyrinth  of  speculation.  There  has,  for  in- 
stance, been  a  noticeable  and  lamentable  dying 
out  of  international  commerce  and  a  general 
sluggishness  of  trade  which  greatly  alarms  the 
community  at  large.  All  trade  and  commerce 
are  conducted  on  the  socialistic  principle, 
which  forbids  the  venture  of  private  capital, 
did  such   here  exist,  ur  of  jjrivate   enterprise. 


The  Republic  0/  the  Future.  7 1 

It  is  the  State  whicli  directs  all  such  ventures, 
l^ut  the  State,  for  some  reason  or  other,  docs 
not  appear  to  be  a  success  as  a  merchant  or  as 
commercial  financier.  For  one  thing,  the  State 
is  tremendously  absorbed  in  its  own  affairs.  As 
it  takes  care  of  its  people,  educating,  training 
and  developing  them  ;  as  it  looks  after  the 
material  comforts  and  necessities  of  its  vast 
population,  its  own  internal  duties  really  absorb 
all  its  energies.  Then,  in  a  government,  founded 
as  this  one  is,  on  a  principle  of  equality,  which 
principle  is  the  sworn  enemy  of  ambition  there 
must  of  necessity  be  a  lack  of  initiative,  a  fee- 
bleness in  aggressive  attack,  and  a  want  of 
determination  in  the  pursuance  of  any  given 
policy.  It  is  only  ambitious  staple  governments 
which  can  command  and  maintain  a  definite 
polic>'  of  national  action.  Even  the  American 
republic   found   it  difficult,   with  its  recurrent 


7  2  llic  Republic  of  the  Future. 

changes  in  official  departments,  to  carry  into 
effect  great  international  projects.  The  peo- 
ple, here  have  ended  by  contenting  themselves 
with  the  exercise  of  only  so  much  executive, 
political  or  commercial  activity  as  is  found 
actually  necessary  to  maintain  their  own  exis- 
tence. Men,  whether  as  individuals  or  as  a 
collective  body,  are  indeed  only  actively  aggres- 
sive, ambitious  or  audacious  in  proportion  as 
they  meet  with  opposition.  It  is  struggle,  and 
not  the  absence  of  it.  which  makes  both  men 
and  a  nation  great. 

I  have,  therefore,  ceased  to  ask  myself  where 
arc  the  old  magnificent  energies  which  once 
characterizeil  tills  people.  One  looks  in  vain 
for  the  former  warfare  of  intelligence,  fi)r  the 
old  time  audacity  of  invention,  for  the  fray 
of  commercial  contest,  for  the  powerful 
massing   of    capital    we    read    of  as   character- 


The  Rcl>uhlic  of  the  Future.  ^3 

istic  of  Americans  two  hundred  years  ago. 
All  this  has  gone  with  the  old  competitive 
system. 

With  the  abolishment  of  competition  have 
died  out,  naturally,  all  the  prizes  and  rewards 
in  life  which  came  from  individual  struggle. 
As  accumulation  of  personal  property,  in  lands 
or  in  moneys,  and  the  possibility  of  personal 
advancement  arc  forbidden  by  law,  under  this 
form  of  government,  all  incentives  to  personal 
activity  have  disappeared.  The  law  of  equal- 
ity, with  its  logical  decrees  for  the  suppression 
of  superiority,  has  brought  about  the  other 
extreme,  sterility.  The  crippling  of  individual 
activity  has  finally  produced  its  legitimate 
result — it  has  fatally  sapped  the  energies  of 
the  people. 

It  is  a  curious  and  interesting  feature  in 
onc*»  study  of  this  people,  to  find  that  it  is  not 


74  ^'-^^  Republic  of  iJu  Future. 

the  establishment  of  the  law  of  equality  which 
has  been  the  cause  of  decay  in  this  people,  but 
the  enforcement  of  the  opposite  law — the  law 
it  was  soon  found  necessary  to  establish  a^Minst 
inequality.  It  naturally  and  logically  followed 
that  if  men  arc  to  be  made  equal,  such  equality 
can  only  be  maintained  by  the  suppression  of 
degrees  of  inequality.  Mentally,  for  instance, 
the  standard  must  l)c  made  low  enough  for  all 
to  attain  it ;  each  man,  therefore,  in  time,  no 
matter  what  his  fitness,  capacity  or  gift,  was 
forced  to  subordinate  his  particular  qualities  to 
the  general  possibility  of  attainment.  This 
level  of  a  common  mediocrity  was  more  t»r  less 
difficult  to  inforce  and  develop.  Their  own 
historians  record  many  interesting  accounts  of 
the  slow  death  of  inequality.  In  one  I  read  only 
yesterday,  **  So  instinctive  through  long  centu- 
ries of   oppression    and   misuse  of   power    was 


Thr  Republic  of  ihc  Future.  75 

the  impulse  among  men  to  aspire  to  supe- 
riority of  attainment,  to  excel  in  mental  devel- 
opment, or  to  exhibit  richer  creative  power,  that 
for  years  the  state  penitentiaries  were  filled 
with  men  whose  crime  was  their  unconquer- 
able desire  selfishly  to  surpass  their  less  fortu- 
nate brothers.  It  is  only  within  our  own 
enlightened  twenty-first  century  that  this  grave 
fault  has  been  remedied.  Now,  happily,  no 
one  dreams  of  insuring  his  own  personal  hap- 
piness at  the  expense  of  others." 

And  so,  my  dear  Hannevig,  the  old  drama 
of  history  is  enacted  anew.  •  Years  ago  men 
were  unhappy  because  the  many  had  to  .strug- 
gle against  the  favored  few.  Here,  where  all 
are  equal,  men  are  miserable  because  they  are 
so;  because  all  having  equal  claims  to  happi- 
ness, find  life  equally  dull  and  aimless.  The 
perpetual   mo.m  here   i«i.  O  for  a  chance  to  be 


76 


The  Republic  o/  the  Future, 


something,  to  do  something,  to  achieve  some- 
thing!   ^ 

I  shall  be  able  to  send  you  only  one  more 
letter,  as  I  return  in  a  few  days — by  balloon 
this  time,  I  think,  instead  of  by  tunnel. 


Th(:  Republic  of  the  Future. 


77 


^il^0^^^ 


VII 


CfinisTMAs  Day. 
My  Goon  Hanneyig:  I  have  only  just  time 
to  send  you  one  more  incident  and  scene.  It 
being,  as  you  may  have  observed  at  the  top  of 
my  letter,  Christmas  Day,  I  was  curious  to  see 
how  this  festival  would  be  observed  here.  Some- 
what to  my  surprise  I  observed  that  the  popula- 
tion went  about  their  avocations  just  as  usual. 
Then  !  reflected,  in  a  country,  where  everyday 
after  eleven  in  the  morning  a  true  holiday  .mtIs 


78  The  Kf public  of  the  Future, 

in,  there  being  nothing  for  any  one  to  do  except 
to  enjoy  themselves,  it  would  be  difficult  fitly  to 
celebrate  any  special  fete  day.  In  pointof  fact, 
there  are  none  such.  The  people  voted  them 
out  of  the  calendar,  saying  they  had  all  they 
could  do  to  kill  the  ordinary  enjoyment  hours 
of  each  week  without  having  to  invent  new 
games  or  occupations  for  a  dozen  difTcrcnt 
feast  days.  So  all  holidays  are  prescribed  by  law 
except  Christmas.  This  day  is  kept  up  for  two 
reasons — because  it  is  thought  to  be  an  excel- 
lent time  to  show  off  the  children  brought  up 
by  the  State  to  the  people,  and  also  because 
on  Christmas  Day  each  child  is  allowed  to  spend 
the  day  at  home. 

The  exercises  of  the  cKiy  began  at  the  great 
luhical  Temple.  Here  ten  thousand  children 
were  gathered  to  listen  first  to  a  lecture  on 
the  history  of  Christmas.     There  was  a  pla)'  in 


Tiu  Republic  of  the  Future.  79 

which  Santa  Claus  appeared  and  a  number  of 
other  legendary  characters,  to  show  the  chil- 
dren in  what  mythological,  absurd  beings  the 
children  of  the  uncnhghtened  nineteenth  cen- 
tury believed  in.  Then  ten  thousand  toys  were 
distributed,  dolls  and  whips  and  tops,  and 
sleighs  and  skates.  But  as  all  were  distributed 
indiscriminately  by  State  officers  to  the  chil- 
dren as  they  passed  out  on  review,  of  course  all 
the  boys  got  the  dolls  and  the  girls  the  whips 
and  tops.  An  hour  aftenvard,  outside  the 
great  building,  I  saw  groups  of  the  children 
doing  a  tremendous  exchange,  far  more  inter, 
csted  in  bartering  damaged  dolls  for  shining 
skates  than  in  endeavoring  to  establish  the 
identity  of  their  own  parents,  whom,  indeed, 
having  only  seen  a  few  times  in  the  course  of 
their  lives,  they  barely  know  by  sight. 

I  was  slowly  walking  homeward,  speculating 


8d  The  Republic  of  the  Future, 


on  these  and  other  revelations  made  by  a  more 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  workings  of  this 
great  community,  when  I  encountered  a  familiar 
face.  It  was  that  of  my  young  lady-friend, 
whose  conversation  I  reported  to  \<)u  above. 
She  joined  me  and  we  walked  on  together. 

**  I  hear  you  are  going  back  to  Sweden  ;  is  it 
true  ?  "  she  asked. 

"Yes,  I  return  in  a  few  days." 

**  Hut  you  have  enjoyed  your  trip — and — 
us?" 

"  Immensely.  You  arc  a  wonderful  coun- 
try." 

"  That,  if  I  remember,  is  just  what  foreigners 
siiid  t<i  Americans  two  huiulrcil  years  ago." 
(I  like  this  young  girl  particularly.  .She  is 
more  intelligent  than  most  of  the  women  one 
meets  here.  She  is  allowed  to  be,  she  told  me, 
because    slie    was    so  much    less  good  looking 


The  Nrpublic  of  the  Future.  8i 


than  others,  which  is  true.  Hut  in  this  land  of 
dead  cquah'ty  one  is  grateful  for  a  httlc  intelli- 
gence, even  if  it  be  served  up  with  home- 
liness). 

"There  is  one  thing  I  can  not  become  accus- 
tomed to,"  I  said  not  wishing  to  be  called  to 
closer  account  for  my  impressions,"  and  that  is 
that  there  arc  no  church  steeples  or  spires.  The 
absence  of  them  gives  such  a  uniform  look  to 
all  your  cities. 

"Churches?  Oh,  they  went  out  long  ago, 
you  know.  Religion,  it  was  found,  brought 
about  discussion.     It  was  voted  immoral." 

"  Yes,  I  know.  Only  I  thought  a  few  spires 
or  churches  might  possibly  have  been  presented 
in  a  kind  of  .sentimental  pickle,  as  castles  and 
niins  are  kept  in  England,  to  add  what  an  old 
writer  calls  "  the  necessary  clement  of  decay  to 
the  landscape.** 


82  The  KcpublU  of  the  Future. 

"That  was  Riiskin,  was  it  not?  What  a 
quaint  old  writer!  His  books  read  as  if  they 
were  written  in  a  dead  lanjjuagc.  As  for  the 
churches,  tliey  were  all  destroyed,  you  know, 
in  the  war  between  the  radicals  and  the  or- 
thodox, and  not  a  stone  was  left  standinjj. 
Since  then  the  State  has  erected  these  huj;e 
Kthical  Temples,  where  all  the  religions  arc  ex- 
plained and  where  the  philosophy  of  ethics  is 
taught  the  people.  The  fines  of  all  these 
temples  is  the  Temple  of  liie  Libeiators;  have 
you  seen  it  yet  ?  " — she  asked. 

*•  I  have  not,  but  I  should  like  to  do  so.  Will 
you  be  my  guide?  " 

She  led  me  thither. 

We  soon  came  to  a  structure  which  being 
smaller,  and  of  fairly  good  and  symmetric  d  pro- 
portions, was  a  little  less  hideous  than  the  other 
temples  I   had   seen.    '  Inside,  in   the  center  t)f 


The  Republic  of  the  Future.  83 

the  building  was  a  colossal  statue — a  portrait  it 
is  said — of  the  founder,  Henry  George.  Around 
the  sides  of  the  wall,  were  niches  where  portrait 
busts  of  the  martyrs  stand — the  nihilists,  early 
anarchists,  and  socialists  who  endured  persecu- 
tion and  often  death  in  the  early  days  of 
socialism.  A  book  I  noticed  was  placed  near 
the  Henry  George  statue.  It  was  the  social- 
istic bible  "  Poverty  and  Progress "  which 
with  a  number  of  other  such  books  forms  the 
chief  literature  of  the  people.  Once  a  year, 
my  young  friend  told  me,  there  is  a  sacred  read- 
ing to  the  people  from  this  book. 

As  wc  turned  to  pursue  our  way  homeward 
she  again  began  to  question  mc — "  But  you 
haven't  told  me  yet  what  you  think  of  us — 
as  a  country  and  a  people,"  she  persisted. 

**  Well,  since  you  will  have  it  I  will  tell  you. 
You  arc  a  great  and  surprising  people.     I  mean 


84  Thf  RrpublU  of  the  Fnture. 

great  in  the  sense  of  numbers,  however,  fur  great, 
pohtically  and  morally,  you  can  never  be  again. 
You  appear  to  have  attained  a  certain  order  of 
perfection  which,  however,  is  only  relative.  You 
think  you  have  solved  all  the  great  problems; 
but  you  have  only  begun  to  solve  them.  In 
attempting  to  make  the  peo|)le  happy  by  insur- 
ing equality  of  goods  and  equal  division  of  proj)- 
erty,  you  have  found  it  necessary  to  stultify 
ambition  and  to  kill  aspiration.  Therefore  a 
health)',  vigorous  morale  has  ceased  to  exist. 
Ill  making  leisure  a  law  you  have  robbed  it  of 
its  sweetness.  Rnnui  is  the  curse  of  the  land. 
The  arts  languish,  because  the  arts  depend  on 
the  imagination,  aiul  imagination  has  been 
declared  illegal,  since  all  are  not  born  with  it. 
Your  libraries  and  museums  are  open,  but  who 
sees  them  filled  with  readers  and  students?  In 
other  words,  man  having  been  born  heir  to  all 


The  Rr public  of  the  Future.  85 


things,  has  ceased  to  value  them.  And  so  I 
leave  you,  well  content  to  go  back  to  iny  bar- 
baric  Sweden,  where  tlic  forms  of  poHtical 
government  are  so  bad  that  men  wrestle  like 
gods  to  remedy  them,  and  where  men  them- 
sclve  are  still  born  so  unequal  that  they  have 
to  fight  like  demons  to  live  at  all.  We  are  still 
chaotic,  and  unformed,  and  unredeemed,  and 
unrcgenerate.  Hut  we  arc  tremendously  alive. 
And  so  I  return  with  eager  joy  to  t.ikc  my  part 
in  the  strife,  to  be  a  man.  in  other  words,  and 
not  a  part  of  a  colossal  machine.  Why  not 
go  back  with  me?  It  will  be  a  great  cxperi- 
cnce,  you  would  gobi^k  nt  1*  .x<\  two  hundred 
years." 

She  sighed  and  murmured  :  '*  We  arc  not 
allowed  to  travel.  It  is  forbidden.  It  breeds 
dissatisfaction.  But  I  wish  we  were.  It  sounds 
M>  vrrv  brAntiful  and  stran'^'^  **     And  so  I  left 


86 


Tht  Rf public  of  the  Future. 


her,  as  I  must  you,  for  my  letter  is  a  volume. 
In  a  few  days  I  shall  be  telling  you  all  I  can  not 
write.     Adieu. 

Yours, 

Wolfgang. 


rMJMITKD    FUN! 

MARK  TWAIN  SAVS  :  "  It  U  a  rl;>r]ing  hxewj  oirimity.- 

ENXLisii  AS  sun  IS 

TAir.llT. 

G«»niiif>«>  answers  to  Fnamination  Question*  in  our  Public  School*. 
C  •  \\»'\  mA  '. 

t  ._  ^,    for    )  .    ("f    tbr-    erf  at 

f  •• '-  '^  of  the  Enclifih  lanipiai^,  »m>  this  book. 


riotll,  filll  Top,  rnrnt  Kdera.  -  Prlrr,    >1.00 

irdft.  Flexible,  (new  Bt}le),      -  -    l>rtr(>,        .60 


rF«^»M    "TOPICS  OF  THK  TIMR  "    IN    APRIL  "  CKKTURY.- 

"  V'.i>.  ir<7  ooHkl  W  tnnre   a«inM«c  itiMi   tW    hmommcmmm    Imainr   of 
•  r 'c  *4er  «rl>nM 


V  aii|r  Wcfk  «f  k«  MM  rwr 


(  ASSKLL  &  COMPANY,   Limiteh. 
739  &  741  BiioAijwAV,  New  Yokk. 


